The stressful day was starting. We left the house in the morning, where we said goodbye to the husband and his daughter. After that we just went to the main road. From there the first idea was to do some hitchhiking, but it wasn’t making much sense.
The road was too busy and there were still buses going. We asked locals and luckily there was a guy, who was helping us A LOT!
Driving to a good spot
He was driving with us until we had to change the bus. We talked a little bit with each other. It wasn’t super easy, because I only understood Russian.
It was working though. In the next bus, he was contacting a woman in the bus, who should guide us where we need to get out. She did exactly this.
The bus ride for both buses were in total less than 1,5 Euro per person, so less than 150 Rubles.
The place we got out was the highway. It was the perfect spot, no public buses anymore and having a direct road to the Baikal Lake.
We were ready for exploring Russia by hitchhiking.The weather was not bad, but also not great. It was a bit cooled down, which I prefer while hitchhiking. Also it was not raining, which kept the clothes dry.
First hitchhiking in Russia
If you want to learn more about hitchhiking in Russia, you should check out this article: Hitchhiking in Russia
We were not waiting very long, until the first person stopped. It was a single woman, who wasn’t going that far, but it still helped in order to get out of the city.
She was very sweet and even dropped us at the end of her little village. First she wanted to drive us to a bus station, but then she understood we wanted to hitchhiking and didn’t really want to take a bus.
After we got out of the car, the next car wasn’t taking long for us to appear. It was great how much progress we were doing. The next guy was very nice and also listened to German music, which was very interesting.
We were talking a lot and understood so little of what he was saying. Still it was quite interesting to be in his car.
He stopped in a great location for us to continue. Many people were stopping there on the road, before continuing the journey.
A truck was stopping, he couldn’t take us, but gave us something to drink, before he continued. At exactly that moment someone else was stopping.
Truck ride through Russia
The next and final car for the day were two truckers. Marla was getting in one of the two trucks and I went in the other.
First it was quite weird, because we were separated, but they were modern trucks, so the seats were a bit away from each other and they were driving in a convoy. It just gave us a safe feeling, otherwise we would have not done it. None of us want something to happen.
I struggled a lot with communication, because he wasn’t understanding English and I wasn’t understanding Russian. Adding to this, I had no internet, so I could not even translate anything. We were just listening to Music and our conversations were always just a few words.
The view from the car was just amazing. I also fall asleep quite often, because while hitchhiking I am always very tired. Marla did the same. From the many hours we joined them, I slept probably 80 or more % of it.
Having food together
We were stopping from time to time and there it was way better, because Marla was able to translate things. We were stopping at a little restaurant. At that we were spending most of the money we had left and were officially broke.
The food tasted very good and it was not making it better with being tired, it just made the percentage of sleeping way higher. The truck driver I was driving with was a year older than me, quite interesting. He is having a wife and soon a kid, I feel like being far away from that.
Being inside the Baikal Lake for the first time
We stopped more and more often. The one time was at the Baikal Lake, it was great. Just walking there and going in with the feet. It was super cold, but very refreshing. Even though it is said that the Baikal Lake was supposed to be really clean, it didn’t feel that way as much.
We collected some stones and just took in the energy from the lake and the water itself.
It was not the time yet to go fully in and swim, but I at least felt what would expect me, when I am actually doing it.
Arriving in Ulan Ude
We were driving with the guys all the way to the outside of Ulan Ude, banks were open until 20:00 and we arrived around one hour before.
Still we had to get to the center somehow, which was needed, because we needed to exchange money really badly.
The bus wasn’t taking that long to arrive, but the bus was slow. After some time we arrived and it was already 19:45, so we rushed to the nearest open bank. When we arrived at 47, the person working there said that the exchange office was already closed.
It was super frustrating, because it was closed for two minutes. We were officially broke, maybe had 3 Euros in Rubles left. Obviously that was not a lot, but we still had to find food and a place to stay.
Obviously it wasn’t new for me not to spend money on vacation, but it is different when you can’t spend any money compared to not wanting to spend money.
Trying to get food
There was no chance of getting the money changed. We were walking around, asking in Hotels, Banks, Hostels, Supermarkets and all said the same: NO
It was quite frustrating. We went to restaurants and asked if we could pay in Euros or if they would have some leftovers or something. It still feels uncomfortable, even though I did it back then a lot during my 0 Euro trip.
After a few restaurants a girl was speaking to us in English and actually was giving us 500 Rubles, which is 5 Euros. It was hard to take the money, but we were frustrated and hungry.
Such a nice woman with whom we exchanged contact as well, because she also planned to go to the Baikal Lake next.
We were checking the restaurants to see where we could find some food for roughly 7 Euros, before deciding we saw some people who looked like they were from Mongolia. Marla asked them in Mongolian, if it would be possible to give them the Mongolian currency in exchange of Rubles. They were from Russia and speaking not really Mongolian. They were Buryat people, who are basically Mongolians living in Russia, but speaking a different language.
The one guy of the group went with us to the bank in order to get cash for us. We wanted to send him the money online, but he refused. He was happy to help us out and I felt bad about taking 2000 Rubles from him. When we wanted to give him something we refused, smiled and walked away.
Taking food is something I don’t mind, but with money I feel just super uncomfortable.
Getting food and finishing the day
We were getting food at a Chinese restaurant and wow the food was insanely good.
I was well fed for the first time on this trip and it was just amazing!
It was exactly my type of food. Not spicy at all and also with taste.
We were not fully broke anymore and went to the train station of Ulan Ude.
Of course we were sleeping again in it. It is a very clean train station and also there is a lot of security.
Sadly this night wasn’t the best, because of constantly being woken up by security, which was very annoying to be honest, but still a free place to stay for the night, could be worse.
The next day, finally getting cash
It was the next day and the banks were open. I was getting a quite decent exchange rate and changed all I had into Rubles. It was such a relief to finally have cash again.
We were getting breakfast and were going to the bus stop. All the tickets were gone to the place at the Baikal Lake, where we wanted to go.
It was shit, because it was already 12 during the day. We were obviously deciding to go by hitchhiking again.
We were taking a bus to the outside of Ulan Ude, for just 30 cents per person, so amazing! From there on we tried our luck for the next 3h ride.
What is up next?
Next week you will be reading about how this trip continued and what crazy stuff happened at the Baikal Lake. So stay tuned and be excited to read the next article!
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